CAGRD Agenda Number 3.

Transcription

1 CAGRD Agenda Number 3. CONTACT: Dennis Rule Tom McCann (623) (623) MEETING DATE: March 21, 2013 AGENDA ITEM: Discussion of Stakeholder Process for Addressing CAGRD Guiding Principles LINKAGE TO STRATEGIC PLAN, POLICY, STATUTE OR GUIDING PRINCIPLE CAWCD Board 2010 Strategic Plan Replenishment: CAGRD Management and Oversight PREVIOUS BOARD ACTION/ACTIVITY: CAWCD Board of Directors meetings: September 6, 2012 Board of Directors Approval of CAGRD Guiding Principles ISSUE SUMMARY/DESCRIPTION: By or before January 1, 2015, CAGRD must submit a new 10-year Plan of Operation (Plan) to the Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR). The statutory requirements for the Plan are quite detailed but, in general, the new Plan must describe how CAGRD proposes to meet its replenishment obligations over the next 100 years. ADWR must review the Plan and determine whether or not it meets the statutory requirements. While much of the information required in the Plan is relatively technical and straightforward, there is a great deal of interest in the water management and policy implications of the Plan among the broad CAGRD stakeholder community. Therefore, CAGRD has committed to conducting a robust stakeholder process as development of the new Plan proceeds. BOARD GUIDING PRINCIPLES: Following a nearly year-long series of discussions by the CAGRD & Underground Storage Committee and CAGRD stakeholders, the CAWCD Board of Directors on September 6, 2012, approved a document entitled "CAGRD Guiding Principles". This document expresses the Board's position on key CAGRD issues to guide staff in engaging the stakeholders and in developing the new Plan. Subsequent to that Board action, staff has been actively involved in discussions with various stakeholder groups concerning the Plan development process.

2 SCHEDULE FOR STAKEHOLDER PROCESS: CAP staff has conducted extensive internal planning meetings to develop the schedule and structure for the stakeholder process. The first phase of the stakeholder process, which will focus on the Board's CAGRD Guiding Principles, will begin with an introductory meeting on Wednesday, April 10 and is scheduled to conclude by the end of September, The information and agreements developed during this phase of the stakeholder process will be incorporated in the draft Plan of Operation. During the second phase of the process, stakeholders will have the opportunity to review and comment on the draft Plan itself. This phase of the stakeholder process will begin in late 2013 to early Staff anticipates that review of the draft Plan by stakeholders and by the CAGRD & Underground Storage Committee will be completed in time to submit the final Draft Plan for review and consideration for approval at the Board's August 7, 2014 meeting. Following approval by the Board, the Final Draft CAGRD Plan of Operation will be submitted to ADWR for a formal review process specified in statute. ADWR REVIEW PROCESS: Per statute, the ADWR director has sixty days to determine if the information in the submitted draft Plan is sufficient to determine whether the plan is consistent with achieving the management goal of each Active Management Area. If the information is determined to be insufficient for such a determination, CAGRD must submit additional information within a timeframe specified by the director. Following a final determination that the draft Plan is complete, ADWR will publish a notice requesting public comment and will set the date and location of a public hearing within sixty days of final notice. CAGRD must respond in writing to all comments received from the public. Within one hundred and twenty days after the hearing, the ADWR director must issue a decision for each AMA on whether or not the Plan is consistent with achieving the management goal of the AMA. If the director determines that the Plan is not consistent with the management goal of one or more of the AMAs, CAGRD must modify and resubmit the Plan within sixty days of that determination. If the modified Plan still does not satisfy the director's concerns regarding one or more AMAs, any CAGRD Member Service Area (MSA) within the AMA will lose its designation of assured water supply and no new Member Lands (MLs) or MSAs may join the CAGRD. MSAs would have the opportunity to reapply for and re-obtain their designations, if possible; the moratorium on new members would remain in effect unless or until the deficiencies in the Plan were corrected. ISSUES FOR PHASE I OF STAKEHOLDER PROCESS: Attachment 1 is a scoping document for the initial phase of the stakeholder process. This document incorporates the issues identified in the Board's CAGRD Guiding Principles, as well as other issues that have been raised in discussions with various stakeholder groups. While this scoping document has been structured to lead the stakeholder process through specific issues that are

3 central to staff's development of the draft Plan, the document also provides stakeholders with the opportunity to discuss other issues which they deem important. The discussions during the stakeholder process will documented and will be included as an appendix to the draft Plan. STRUCTURE OF STAKEHOLDER PROCESS: The structure of the stakeholder process will be similar to one used during the development of the current Plan of Operation in 2004 and which proved to be quite successful. At the first meeting, the entire group of CAGRD stakeholders will be asked to self-select members of a smaller working group representative of a number of different classes of stakeholders; Attachment 2 is a listing of the proposed representative classes. This listing may be modified if there are strong feelings among the stakeholders that some interests are under- or overrepresented. All stakeholder meetings will be open to the public and any interested individuals can observe the working group discussions and participate through their representative. Since the working group is designed to represent classes of interests, individual issues or concerns will be raised by the class representative during the work group discussions. There also will be opportunities for any member of the public to provide comment or ask questions at specific times during the stakeholder meetings. COMMITTEE UPDATES AND INPUT: Staff will provide regular updates on the progress of the stakeholder process. It also is anticipated that some Board members will regularly attend the stakeholder meetings and will provide updates to the Committee. SCHEDULED FOR BOARD ACTION: No scheduled action.

4 CAGRD Agenda Number 3. Attachment CAGRD Plan of Operation CAGRD Stakeholder Process Pursuant to CAWCD Board Guiding Principles (Adopted September 6, 2012) I. CAGRD Risk Guiding Principle: The risk to CAGRD associated with enrollment of new members under the next Plan of Operation must be mitigated through appropriate conditions on enrollment. Consideration should be given to establishing alternative paths for meeting the new conditions for enrollment. Develop a "Strawman Proposal" for collecting more revenue toward water acquisition prior to incurring replenishment obligation. Discussion Topics: Alternatives that would allow CAGRD to collect more of the water acquisition costs earlier in the development process. Viability of requiring new members to acquire water supplies before enrollment. II. III. Conservation Measures to Reduce CAGRD Replenishment Obligation Guiding Principle: The Board s 2010 Strategic Plan includes an Action Plan to collaborate with stakeholders to evaluate conservation measures that could reduce CAGRD's replenishment obligation. The Board believes that the Strategic Plan provides appropriate guidance on this issue. Review with stakeholders current CAGRD conservation plan and water use characteristics of member lands. How future CAGRD conservation program funds and program efforts should be directed in order to help reduce replenishment obligations. Interest in Direct Delivery by CAGRD Guiding Principle: The Board s 2010 Strategic Plan includes an Action Plan to investigate the possibility of direct delivery to CAGRD members with water treatment capability. The Board believes that the Strategic Plan provides appropriate guidance on this issue. Level of interest in and support for amending CAGRD authorities to allow direct deliveries to CAGRD members with water treatment capability. 1

5 IV. Member Land De-enrollment Guiding Principle: There should be a statutory mechanism for Member Lands to de-enroll from the CAGRD provided that (1) the land has not been subdivided or the subdivision is vacated and the land returned to an unsubdivided condition, (2) the parcel owner voluntarily applies for de-enrollment, (3) the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) approves the de-enrollment and revokes any associated Certificates of Assured Water Supply, and (4) CAGRD approves the de-enrollment. Work with ADWR to develop proposed legislative language to allow member land de-enrollment. Refinement of proposed legislative language to allow member land deenrollment. V. Enhanced Reporting to ADWR Inclusion of provisions in the CAGRD Plan of Operations for enhanced annual reporting to ADWR and for a Mid-Plan Review, such as: Preparing and submitting to ADWR an annual report detailing new enrollment, changes in replenishment obligations, locations of pumping and replenishment and water supply acquisition activities; Preparing and submitting to ADWR a Mid-Plan Review at the end of the fifth year following Plan adoption; and Consulting with ADWR every five years to review data on depth to groundwater beneath replenishment locations, member lands and member service areas to identify longer term trends in water levels and to evaluate what, if any, actions should be taken in response to these trends. VI. Location of Replenishment Guiding Principle: The Board s 2010 Strategic Plan includes Action Plans to encourage ADWR's efforts to investigate areas where excessive groundwater declines are possible, to evaluate development of new recharge facilities in those areas and, to the extent feasible, to replenish in areas where CAGRD members are pumping. The Board believes that the Strategic Plan provides appropriate guidance on this issue. Review with stakeholders historic pumping and replenishment data. Opportunities for CAGRD to replenish in areas of projected groundwater declines and/or in areas where CAGRD members are pumping. 2

6 VII. VIII. Alternatives to Current CAGRD Model Discussion Topics: Potential ways to reduce reliance on CAGRD. How the current CAGRD model of pumping and replenishment may be changed over a longer term or other models may be developed, while still supporting sustainable growth within CAWCD's service area. Other CAGRD Issues Discussion Topics: Other issues related to CAGRD and the Plan of Operation. 3

7 CAGRD Agenda Number 3. Attachment CAGRD Plan of Operation CAGRD Stakeholder Process Proposed Working Group Representative Classes ADWR AMWUA ASLD Bureau of Reclamation Development Community Homebuilders Member Service Areas East Phoenix AMA West Phoenix AMA Pinal AMA Tucson AMA Provider Serving Member Lands East Phoenix AMA West Phoenix AMA Pinal AMA Tucson AMA Phoenix SAWUA SRP Tribal Communities Tucson